Geekly Humpday: Our Picks for 5 Best and Worst of E3 2017

E3 2017 is wrapped up and the Geekiverse had the pleasure to be there for the first time in our history. SO while Seth, Jo and Adam are in Los Angeles playing, I’m having Jeff Pavs fill in for Jo for this article, and this time around we are talking about the Best that we saw at E3… and the Worst.

Sam’s Best

Days Gone (Playstation 4)

I heard about this game, but I never really had any interest in it until I saw game play at Sony’s conference. I was immediately hooked by this open world, Last of Us feel of this game, and the intense moments of sneaking into an enemy settlement without being detected by people and Zombies alike.

Graphically this game looks stunning and the combat system is so fluid it mirrors silk. The more and more trailers I see from the game, the more I want to play as Kratos and see where this tale is going to take us.

Jeff’s Best

Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch)

A Mario game where you can play as a Tyrannosaurus Rex is a winner, any day of the week. The new trailer and subsequent demos of this game are painting a picture of pure freedom, as the vast stages are free to romp around in, and are filled with all sorts of things to discover. The wide array of costumes and abilities that’s available to Mario make it seem like every player will find their own unique way to complete levels, which take us through cities, prehistoric jungles, dense woodlands, deceptively-pretty deserts, and more.

While I must admit that I’m more excited at the mere prospect of Metroid Prime 4 on the Switch, the announcement of this reimagining almost surprised me just as much, and the game that actually showed some gameplay deserves the nod. Proving that the 3DS is going out with a bang, this remake marks the return of 2D Metroid after a 13 year hiatus. Many fans feared we’d never see a sidescrolling Metroid, again, and now we’re just three months away from one!

The setting, alone, makes this one intriguing. Ancient Egypt, to me, is one of the most fascinating civilizations in history, and the lands surrounding the Nile River are far more diverse than just sandy deserts, like the misconception states. I’m even more interested because of the possibility that Origins will also pull from Ancient Egyptian mythology, which is equally as fascinating as their culture. Bringing in a few monsters and other low fantasy elements might just be an incredible injection to the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Sam’s Worst

The Bethesda Conference

I’m sorry, and I’m probably going to get a lot of hate for this… but first let me say, I love Bethesda…a lot of their games are on the top of my favorite game’s list. However, I was a little underwhelmed and disappointed by their lack of new titles and originality. The VR compatibility was neat and the new Wolfenstein II looks great but it wasn’t enough to make me stand up and applaud. I’m hoping next year is better for them.

Showing off DLC, Like it’s an actual game

Okay, so I think this may be a sensitive subject, but I can’t be the only one annoyed at Sony and Bethesda that I had to do research in order to figure out if the “new” Dishonored was a new game or just add-on content. My real issue is why waste consumer’s time for add-on content? I want to see WHOLE games not pieces, do that s*** on your own time.

Jeff’s Worst

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)

Admittedly, this doesn’t look like an outright disaster. A turn-based strategy in the vein of XCOM is never a bad thing, but holy crap am I SICK of the Rabbids. They’re like the Minions, if all the Minions could do was scream like idiots. I’ll always be bitter with the Rabbids after the years where they hijacked the Rayman’s own franchise, leaving us with minigame collection after minigame collection instead of creative platformers. I would have much rather seen Ubisoft develop a Switch exclusive a little more mature than this silly, spinoff crossover. (Full disclosure. Sam totally wants this game and thinks it looks amazing)

Beyond Good and Evil 2

At this point, I no longer care that we’re finally getting a sequel to the original classic. I’ll be more interested once we finally see some in-game footage of this title, which has taken forever to be realized, instead of these assuredly expensive pre-rendered videos. On top of that, this newest trailer suggests a needless, and jarring tonal shift from the first game with this new vulgarity. The excessive F bombs are wildly out of place in this setting; it’s like seeing Mario give Bowser the middle finger. In trying to be “cool” and “more adult”, Beyond Good and Evil 2 just feels juvenile.

Spider-Man (Playstation 4)

I was gradually growing interested in Sony’s exclusive Spider-Man game as I watched Spidey beat the snot out of various henchmen, ala the Batman Arkham games, but then those dreaded quick time events reared their ugly heads. In the end, it seemed like half of the demo played itself. Much of the “platforming” segments were just a bunch of button mashing that wasn’t engaging two generations ago and isn’t engaging, today.

So these are our picks for Best and Worst For E3 2017. What’s yours? Drop us a line down below, we’d like to hear your thoughts.

Cheers!

Sam Sarvis AKA Sammy B, is an avid gamer and is currently playing Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia on her Nintendo 3ds.

Jeff Pawlak is the Nintendo Expert on the Geekiverse; he’s been exploring dungeons as Link, leaping across obstacles as Mario, and blasting aliens as Samus for the past 23 years. You can find him on Twitter @JeffreyPavs, where he’s never short on words for what’s going in the world of Nintendo.

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